HIGH SCHOOLS:

Right now for the Newport Harbor High girls’ tennis team, the focus is hardly on next year.

The Sailors (15-5) are preparing for their first-round CIF Southern Section Division II playoff match, which will be today at El Dorado of Placentia.

But a couple of standout members of the junior varsity team this year have shown that the Sailors’ outlook should be bright for years to come.

Freshman Rebecca Arnold and sophomore Cynthia Waterman finished first and second, respectively, at the Sunset League JV singles tournament on Nov. 1 at the Seal Beach Tennis Center.

Arnold was 61-0 on the season, while Waterman was 59-1 headed into the championship match before falling to her teammate. Longtime coach Fletcher Olson, who led the JV team to a second-place league finish this season, said she has liked what she’s seen from both players.

“Rebecca is extremely steady,” Olson said. “She takes the ball on the rise, doesn’t give her opponents a lot of time to react. She moves the ball around the court well.”

Waterman’s style, meanwhile, is more of a hard-hitter.

“She hits the ball with a lot of pace,” Olson said. “Fundamentally, she has a lot of good skills.”

Newport Harbor will graduate seven seniors this year, but Arnold and Waterman have shown that they have a promising future, along with junior Liz Cramer. Cramer won the JV league singles title last year and has been a key member of varsity this season at No. 3 singles.

Arnold and Waterman have also already made an impact on varsity. In Tuesday’s 12-6 Division II wild-card win at Glendale, Arnold subbed in for injured senior Emily Gelbaum and easily won a pair of sets by identical 6-2 scores.

Waterman also subbed in to a win a set.

“It’s been great,” Olson said. “It’s nice to see a lot of depth in the program.”

CDM READY TO GO

For the Corona del Mar High girls’ tennis team, the hope is that today’s home match against Fullerton in the first round of the Division I playoffs is the springboard to something more.

The No. 3-seeded Sea Kings (16-2) want to defend their Division I title of a year ago.

This year’s team doesn’t have the overwhelming depth of last year’s CIF champion, which didn’t lose a match.

But Coach Brian Ricker’s squad is rested, with the fires canceling matches of two weeks ago. The Sea Kings’ last dual match was Oct. 31, when they secured their ninth straight Pacific Coast League championship by beating University.

And some depth is still there. That was shown Tuesday, when juniors Danielle Kaiden and Paige Polizois upset their teammates, No. 2-seeded Karen Ishii and Lindsay Zotovich, in the semifinals of the Pacific Coast League tournament.

Also, by securing the No. 3 seed, CdM would face Troy in a potential semifinal and rematch of last year’s title match.

Ricker has said the Sea Kings match up better against Troy than top-seeded Dana Hills. CdM lost to Troy, 10-8, on Sept. 18, but fell to Dana Hills, 13-5, on Oct. 3.

MATT SZABO may be reached at (714) 966-4614 or by e-mail at matthew.szabo@latimes.com.